Last week I was in Nashville, Tennessee. Sitting in the airport I realized I forgot my cell phone charger. One of my first stops in Nashville was the new mall/plaza in Mt. Juliet. Naturally, Tennessee doesn't have Alltel, so I went to Best Buy -- no compatible charger. I went to Verizon since they just bought Alltel -- no compatible charger. So I went to Target. I ran in and found a charger for my old Kyocera phone that charged in the car. Hooray! Jumped in my car; plugged it in and went on my way. Hmmmmm. The phone wasn't charging. At my next stop I played with it and found that there was a short in the wire. By now, I was on the west side of Nashville and went to the White Bridge Road Target. I ran in and told Elsa at customer service that I wanted an even exchange. She processed the return; kept the broken charger AND my receipt and said I should head back and get another one. I asked to have my receipt or something so in case she was on break, I had some proof. She said not to worry. I ran back to the electronics department. The young kid there asked if he could help and I told him what I needed. He handed me the package and I took off for customer service without looking closely at the package. Of course, Elsa was on break, but another young kid, did whatever needed to be done and sent me on my way.
Out in the car, I rip open the package and realize that this is NOT a car charger but an AC charger for the correct phone. I was still in the parking lot, so I headed back into the store. The same kid, Marcello, was there. I said I just wanted to do an even exchange because the guy in electronics gave me the wrong package and I was too rushed to check it. He said he couldn't return the item for 24 hours. I said I didn't want to return anything, just wanted an even exchange. He said no. I wasn't even mean or rude or anything (yet) and simply asked for the manager.
He called over a young woman and said, "Please take care of this woman and get her out of my face." Yes, he actually said that in front of me. That about sent me over the edge. She said it was a company policy not to process more than two returns in 24 hours. I explained the situation. She didn't care. So I asked for her name and for the general store manager.
She refused to give me her name (the store manager did tell me it was Condra). The manager, Byron, listened intently to my explanation. He apologized profusely and from his body langugage, Marcello was going to receive a lecture when I left.
Byron said he would find a way to get me the exchange, but I said since he was sincerely apologetic (at least he acted that way), I would follow store policy. I bought the right charger.
24 hours later, before I went to the airport, I visited the intial Target store and returned the wrong charger and expained my story. The employees at the Mt. Juliet store were flabergasted and the policy and the attitudes of the employees at the other store.
I have the store number and all the names and plan to contact Target headquarters. "Get her out of my face." I don't think so. Well, actually, I think that's exactly what I will do. I plan to skip Target shopping for quite some time after that experience.
